Weekly Update, April 9th, 2018
Hello from Chad, Markus, Andy, Phil and Laurie
Big Rocks! There… we said it. We’ve got big rocks!
In every organization, it can be hard to focus. But it is especially hard to avoid the allure of bright and shiny objects in the exciting and fast moving world of cryptocurrency. That’s why we’ve created our three big rocks.
1. Ensure freedom to operate
2. Release the software
3. Ensure the integrity of the XAP blockchain
The purpose to these is simple. When any Apollon team member picks up a task at their desk, they have to ask themselves one simple question, “Does this task address one of these three big rocks?” If it does, then proceed, if it doesn’t then you know you’re off course.
To learn about the concept of “Big Rocks”, please watch this youtube video:
https://youtu.be/0VNmIxkyHd81. Ensure freedom to operateLEGAL UPDATECountries around the world are struggling with how to classify and regulate cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency-related businesses. In some cases, it’s perfectly cut and dry. For example, “cryptocurrency exchange’s” have to be licensed as any other currency exchange and are regulated as such. However, in other cases, when a cryptocurrency is created by the originating team in order to draw customers and/or capital to the project, many other questions have be answered. As we work our way through these questions, above all, it is the Apollon’s team’s duty to make decisions and take action that ensure that Apollon has freedom to operate within today’s laws, and within any potential laws that might come into effect in the future.
In order to achieve freedom to operate, the originating Apollon team has hired a legal team to review XAP and the Apollon software project to provide a written opinion that answers three questions:
COULD ANY OF THE XAP COIN SALES BE CONSIDERED SECURITIES SALES? This surrounds the transactions that occur between the originating teams that create a digital currency and their purchasers. Most countries, are simply falling back to existing law and defining things such as ICO’s as securities purchases rather than “token” purchases. This is simply because the capital raised through the token sale is deployed by the recipient in order to build the business, whose plan is designed to drive value to the tokens. If the business is successful, it will drive the tokens value, if it is not, the tokens value is expected to decline. This is also how shares in the business work, so many countries are equating tokens to shares. The problem is that the investments have not followed the law on equity investing into private companies, i.e. requiring an investor to be accredited if they are not family-related or a close personal friend. At this time, we are asking whether or not some of the transactions that occurred in the very beginning of XAP, could possibly have been considered securities sales. If the answer is yes, we will move immediately to remedy those transactions, if it is no, then we’re good.
COULD XAP BE DEFINED AS A “PYRAMID, PONZI OR MATRIX SCHEME”? XAP was not created with the intention of being a scheme. And whilst we do not believe that XAP can be defined as such, it is important to ask this question and receive a written legal opinion on the matter and to share that with our community.
HOW SHOULD THE PREMINED COINS BE HANDLED? The originating team holds all of the premine coins in their possession. You’re welcome to check the originating wallets on the blockchain explorer and it will show that these coins have been handled very responsibly. To date, all premine coins the originating team have used have been for activities directly related to support the acceptance of XAP, the distribution of XAP and the development of the Apollon platform. However, in order to ensure that the Apollon software has complete freedom to operate, it must hold itself at arms distance from the premined XAP coins with the legal structure in place to support that separation. This may seem at odds with the teams original proposal and intention, however, Apollon seeks to provide a software platform that supports thousands of masternodes made up of various coins. If for any reason in the future, laws were put into place that would put pressure on the XAP currency, if the two are not separated, then the pressure on XAP could put Apollon’s business in jeopardy. This, obviously, cannot be allowed to happen.
This all may seem like WAY TOO MUCH INFORMATION, however, our team feels it’s extremely important to let you know that we taking the necessary steps to ensure the long-term success of both XAP and Apollon.
TEAM UPDATEYou are probably asking yourself at this point, when are we going to meet the rest of the originating team? The answer is “soon”. However, as you can see from the above legal challenges we are working on solving, there are several answers we need and actions that need to be taken before we can expose all of the originating teams identities. We want to ensure you that is our intention to reveal the identities of the originating team, however, doing so before we ensure that the proper legal structure is in place and the proper actions have been taken to ensure that the project is fully compliant with the law, could potentially jeopardize XAP, Apollon and them. We ensure you that by keeping their identities under wraps until the legal ducks are in order are in the best interests of all who are involved in the project, including any of you who may have purchased XAP coins thus far.
2. Release the softwareNODEBUILDER v0.2 beta WAS RELEASED TODAY!Beta’s are kind of like having your first baby. For 9 months, you’re happy and excited, you think it’s going to be all cupcakes, rainbows and starry eyed moments… and then… IT arrives…. this... monster, this… devil, this… creature from the swamp that…. just... needs... and poops.... and needs and cries aND Needs ANd EATS AND CRIES AND POOPS AND NEEDS AND…. and completely changes your life and doesn’t give you a moment’s peace for the next 30 years!
But… you love that little baby more than life itself. You can’t imagine how such a thing can bring so much love into your life. And that’s what’s true of babies, they bring so much love with them, that you can forgive them of anything. <dreamy-stare-off-into-the-sky>ahhhhh…. </dreamy-stare-off-into-the-sky> Now where were we… oh yes, the beta.
The beta is actually going much better than we expected! There has been very little crying, Markus and Philipp are actually getting enough sleep and the poop’s have been relatively clean (none of the messy up the back stuff… parents, you know that of which I speak).
The primary hiccups have been surrounding the communications between the QT wallet and the NodeBuilder app. These communications and restarts have been cleaned up for a second round of testing by our beta test group.
The first group of beta testers was 13 testers (15 were invited) and we have invited another 17 into this weeks release for a total of 30 testers. We have sent out emails to everyone who has been selected for this round of testing, they should be in your inbox now.
For those who are still on the waitlist, we appreciate your patience and we hope to release to even more of you next week.
We do not have an final release date available at this time. As the beta progresses, this will become clearer and we will keep you updated.
3. Ensure the integrity of the XAP blockchainWALLET AND MASTERNODE REQUIRED UPGRADE v1.04BEFORE BLOCK 70,000 IS REACHED (~Friday, Apr 13)WALLET UPGRADE INSTRUCTIONS
Windows Wallet Upgrade v.1.04
https://youtu.be/umy0Ch8Uza8 (2 mins)
Mac Wallet Upgrade v1.04 (coming soon)
MASTERNODE UPGRADE INSTRUCTIONS
Masternode on Linux VPS Upgrade v1.04
https://youtu.be/A8BcEUnuw5U (2 mins)
Masternode on Windows Upgrade v1.04
https://youtu.be/-jnBV2jqt-Q (3 mins)
Notes:
We have fixed a potential vulnerability in the wallets and masternodes and you are required to upgrade your wallets and masternodes to version 1.04 in order to continue to participate on the XAP blockchain. When the blockchain reaches block 70,000, v1.03 wallets and masternodes will no longer participate on the blockchain. After that time, you will still be able to upgrade your wallet and begin participating on the blockchain again.
A list of frequently asked questions is being prepared for our discord channel and will be posted shortly. Note that v1.04 of the mac wallet also will be released shortly.
When the blockchain reaches block 70,000, which is anticipated to be on April 13th, you will no longer be able to use wallet and masternode version 1.03, and you will be required to upgrade to 1.04.
NOTE: NONE OF THE COINS HELD IN 1.03 WALLETS WILL BE TRANSFERABLE TO WALLETS OF 1.04 (INCLUDING EXCHANGES) ONCE BLOCK 70,000 IS REACHED, ESTIMATED TO BE APRIL 13TH.
XAP MARKET PROGRESSThe total value of masternodes online is now close to $3,000,000 USD!!
- As of April 5th, 2018, 1,000 masternodes were brought online by the community. As of the writing of this update, the total stands at 1,048!
- The original team had set out the goal for these numbers to be hit by June of this year… they’ve been hit almost a full three months ahead of time… not too shabby.
XAP CALCULATIONSIt was brought up in #general chat on discord that the calculations for the XAP reward structure may be incorrect. We are currently testing this question in our testnet and will respond to the community with an answer shortly.
WEBINAR As you all know, we’re having our webinar on Thursday, April 26th at 1pm EST. We currently have 126 people registered and we’d like to get this up to 500 in the next few weeks. This is a great opportunity to hear our vision, to meet the team live and to see the software in action. Ask us anything and feel free to send your questions ahead of time! If you haven’t sent this out to your friends and family already, please do! Click here to sign-up now!
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/6015225655444/WN_AVGciJhZQRqgqeq8nTEA2wThank-you again to the team and our community. Until next week!
To the beta,
- Chad, Markus, Andy, Phil and Laurie
Please contact Chad with any questions:
Discord: fathertime100#8986
Telegram: @chado33
Email:
chad@apollon.one This update is available as a PDF here:
https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/f121e142-a4db-44a9-9cb6-9f9e0a837022 
